Numb and Number: Chapter Ten
Banner by me
Title: Numb and Number
Rating: PG
Warnings: Major character death
Summary: Three men have to band together when everything around them falls apart. Set practically post-NFA.
Disclaimer: I own none of BTVS or ATS
Comment: Pretty please!
Previous chapters here
It was a cold morning. The rising light was filtered through the trees that danced with a chill breeze. Willow shivered as she picked her way across the cemetery. The hike and the cold were worth it, she just wished she could have spared some of her power to do a quick warming spell. But she knew she needed to save her strength for the ordeal to come.
At last she came to the grave she was searching for. It was freshly dug and Willow knelt down in front of it and felt fresh tears fill her eyes.
“Hey there,” she said, going for perky. Her smile faltered a little bit, but the energy that swam beneath her skin bolstered her up and she forged ahead with her reason for being there.
“I’m going to do it, Buff. I’m going to kill her. Then you can rest in peace. It’s worth it this time and I won’t be ending the world. I’ll be saving it.”
“You’ve got quite a mixture of insecurity and superiority in you,” Oz told her from behind. She whirled around, her eyes dark.
“What are you doing here?”
“Is this your private pity party spot?” he inquired lightly.
“Don’t try to screw around with me,” she snapped. “You never take anything seriously.”
“I take you very seriously,” he replied. “So seriously that I’m here instead of somewhere else.”
“So you hiked a bit,” she scoffed. “Doesn’t mean anything.”
“Means a lot to me,” he said quietly. “I told you the truth when I said I’d never loved anyone else, Will. I still mean that. But I respect you enough to let you make your own decisions. That doesn’t mean you should ignore the truth.”
“Truth?” Her voice was incredibly sarcastic. “There’s truth now, huh?”
“The truth that you aren’t capable of doing what you’re about to attempt.” Oz’s tone was hinging on desperate. “Don’t try it. Illyria will see it coming and even if you did succeed, would she want you to pay with your soul?” He gestured toward the grave behind Willow.
“Don’t bring her into it.” Willow narrowed her eyes. “She’s why it has to happen.”
“When something happens to someone you love, you turn to magic,” he observed. “That’s not the answer.”
“And what is the answer, Mr. Held Back a Year?” she asked.
“We’re looking for the answer, but we need your help.”
“I am helping.”
“This isn’t the way, Willow.”
“You don’t know anything about it.”
“I know that Illyria is calling me to come to her and I am fighting with every inch of will power that I have. It doesn’t take much for me to come to the conclusion she’s doing the same thing to you, but that you don’t realize that’s where your desires are coming from. She’s pulling on all your worst parts, Will, the ones that the black magic stained.”
“You weren’t there,” she hissed at him. “You left and you don’t know what happened to me, no matter how much spying you’ve done since then.”
“I can only see what I see,” he said. “But Giles filled me in on the rest.”
“The old goat,” Willow said, half affectionately. “He’s always been afraid of my power. Can’t bring him into the present. But it’s not my problem.”
“Will you just talk to him?” Oz took a few steps closer to her. Willow didn’t move.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” she said sullenly. “He’s given me the no magic lecture a million times since-“ and she waved her hand vaguely in the direction of Buffy’s grave.
“He’s concerned about you,” Oz said, moving until he stood right in front of her with his hand held out. “Come and talk to him.”
“Are you concerned for me?” she asked quietly.
“Always,” he said. Willow sighed and looked into his eyes. They stared at each other for a few moments then she quickly pressed her lips to his cheek and stood back.
“Then I’m sorry,” she said. “But I’ve grown too big for you.” His cheek burned where she’d kissed him and it continued to burn long after that moment. He rejoiced and despaired at the touch for he sensed the evil in her and longed for the woman he loved.
Willow gathered her power around her, said a silent farewell to Buffy and disappeared. She had a god king to kill.
“Goodbye, Oz.”
Oz stood there for a few minutes, alone by Buffy’s grave, wondering if he could have said or done something different. Probably yes, but now was not the time to wonder. Spike and the others needed to know what had just happened so Oz hurried back to the apartment.
Bursting through the door he found Wesley and Giles reading at the table while Spike sat moodily fingering weapons.
“Oz?” Giles stood up quickly. “What happened?”
“It’s Willow.” Oz hated to have to say it. “She’s going after Illyria; she’s ripe with black magic. I can smell it.”
“What?” Spike jumped up, his expression much more alert than it had been for a long time.
“She went for Illyria on her own,” Oz explained. “But she’s just damning herself. I tried, but we have to stop her.”
“No kidding!” Spike said, an actual emotion rising in his eyes. Wesley and Giles were already gathering their things.
“How do we know where to find them?” Oz asked.
“We’ll do a locator spell for Willow,” Wesley said. “We have enough of her things here and if she has that much black magic in her right now, she’ll probably be relatively easy to trace.” He moved even as he spoke, bringing a few sheets of notes as well as his guns. He was standing waiting at the door for them.
Spike had grabbed an axe and Giles a sword. Oz picked up a crossbow and they set out.
Downstairs Wesley did the locator spell and led the way into the east part of the city.
“Why does Illyria stay here when she’s got control of all the evil in the world?” Oz asked as they moved.
“To taunt us,” Spike replied promptly. “What better use of evil than to flaunt it in the face of those whose job it is to undo it?”
“I fear Spike’s right,” Giles agreed. “Illyria seems to enjoy destroying what is good and she feeds on evil.” He stopped walking for a moment, horror spreading over his face.
“What the bloody hell is it?” Spike asked, seeing the look. Giles spoke slowly, still measuring things out in his own mind.
“Eats up evil. That’s it. She wants Willow to come, that’s partially why she killed Buffy. She wants Willow to challenge her so that Willow’s power can be added to her own.” Giles broke into a run. “We’ve got to stop her from using her black magic.”
The others ran too, caught up in the urgency of the situation. They ran, following Wesley’s shouted directions. It led them to a small flower shop on the opposite side of town from where Buffy had fallen. Bursting in the front door, they found nothing but flowers of all colors and kinds and the fragrance burst upon Spike’s and Oz’s sensitive noses. It was hard for them to distinguish between smells, but they both picked up on the huge aura of black magic in the back room. Wesley and Giles felt it with their magical senses and the four of them crept toward the back. Voices became louder as they got closer.
“-to die!” Willow’s voice was void of emotion. Turning the corner, the four men saw Illyria standing with that unnatural grace in the center of the room. Willow stood in front of her, hair crackling with the power that she’d gathered to herself.
Oz realized with a sudden start that Willow was indeed too big for him. The power that lay within her was bigger than any single force for good on the planet he’d ever encountered or heard of.
“I relish your attempt,” Illyria answered Willow. “But you are too forward in my presence.”
“Your presence won’t be here long enough for it to matter,” Willow said and she closed her eyes. Power swelled so forcefully that everyone could feel it. A stream of black lightening shot from Willow and struck Illyria, hooking into her body and prying open holds for the continued power to hammer in the pain.
“You see,” Willow said triumphantly. “I know your secret. I found the spell that could kill you. It’s what killed you last time.”
“Then that’s what Illyria was counting on,” Giles said slowly. Wesley nodded, beginning to grasp the cunning of the demon that inhabited the shell of his Fred.
Illyria’s form buckled to the ground as Willow shouted words of force to keep the spell running. Pretty soon, the black lightening had changed color to white and then to pink and then...Illyria rose to her feet. Willow didn’t stop her spell, but it no longer seemed to be working.
“We’ve got to stop her,” Spike said. “Or we lose her.”
“If we step in the way of that,” Giles said. “We’ll be blasted into oblivion.”
“Then what do we do?” Spike asked in agitation. “It’s gotta be something.”
“Talk to her,” Giles told Oz. “Maybe she’ll listen to you.”
“She’s done listening to me,” Oz said sadly, but he tried anyway.
“Will!” he said just loud enough for her to hear.
“I said my goodbyes, Oz,” she told him without breaking a sweat. “I’m glad you can enjoy the show, but let me finish.”
“You have to stop,” he told her in desperation. “Illyria knows what you’re doing.”
“I know all,” Illyria said, and spoke a word none of them understood while touching one hand to the pink strain of lightening that connected her to Willow. It turned bright blue and this time it was Willow who fell to the floor.
“Disconnect it!” Oz screamed. “Willow, please!”
Illyria started to laugh. Willow’s face grew dark as well as her hair and her eyes. Veins rose out of her skin, marring its fair appearance. Her voice grew deeper and she screamed some words at Illyria. The lightening almost changed color, although Illyria continued to laugh, and it stayed blue. Willow’s body started to rise off the floor and it began to move towards Illyria. Little sparks of power fluttered all along her body. Oz moved to run forward.
“Willow, no!” Giles stopped Oz before he could touch her.
“That amount of power would kill you,” he told Oz with grief in his voice. “Willow has made her choice.”
Oz’s eyes turned to stone as he watched Willow, her eyes full of hate and black, as she was dragged toward the god king. He tried to reach out, find some semblance of his Willow in there. He touched her mind and found a cacophony of evil voices clamoring for attention and shouting to gain control over the others.
“Where are you?” he shouted into her mind. Willow’s own evil laugh was all that answered him.
The stream of lightening started to slow and then grow smaller. Soon, it was gone and Willow lay limp at Illyria’s feet. Giles started to back up slowly, Wesley and Spike did the same, dragging Oz with them.
“Vassal.” Illyria’s voice echoed through the room. They watched in astonishment as Willow’s body got to her knees and bowed before Illyria.
“Yes, Master?” her voice asked, hatred and revulsion pouring out on every syllable.
Illyria reached down and grabbed Willow by the throat lifting her in the air. Willow shrieked with pain, but did nothing else.
“My insolent new slave,” Illyria purred. “We are pleased to restore to you your power knowing you will use it to our service.”
“Run!” Giles said quickly. They did so, hearing Willow’s voice behind them.
“I can do nothing else but serve you.”
***
“That couldn’t be her,” Oz said blankly as he sat at the table in the apartment. His mind was unfocused because, for all that he had foreseen this tragedy, it did nothing for his mental state.
Wesley was sitting with him. He didn’t really feel the need to do anything but sit there. He wanted to be there for Oz as he felt Oz had been there for him. But he didn’t have anything profound to say, and despite the fact that they weren’t exactly best friends, his own grief over Willow was pressing upon him.
“She wasn’t even mine,” Oz spoke again. “That decision was made a long time ago. But…but she belonged to me before anybody.”
“Willow belonged to herself,” Spike spoke suddenly from behind them before getting up abruptly and leaving the apartment. Wesley and Oz watched him go without saying anything. Spike was like that now.
“I believe I’ll go and get a much needed nap,” Giles said as he got up. “No worries for I’ll be back at those books within the hour.”
“The books don’t really help much, but okay,” Oz said.
“What can I do?” Wesley had to ask after the silence became unbearable. Oz didn’t say anything for awhile, but then replied,
“Would it hurt too much to tell me about Fred?” Wesley wondered if it would too.
“Thank you,” he said after some reflective thought of his own. “I would like someone else to remember her as I did.”
He proceeded to relate to Oz the beauty and joy that came over his skin whenever Fred came into the room. He couldn’t do justice to the quirks of her personality, the bravery of their fights, the genius of her experiments or the randomness of her thought process, but he could tell what she had done for him and the way she made him feel. He felt like there were things he should be able to tell, but couldn’t for some reason, but there was plenty of other things to talk about.
He spent a few hours doing so and when he finally stopped talking, Oz’s eyes had lost their glazed look and Wesley himself felt like a burden had lifted from him.
“Thanks,” Oz said simply. “That helped.”
“So will time,” Wesley assured him.
“And friends,” Spike said as he came back into the apartment. “Listen, I’m sorry I’ve been a right wanker this past while. Gotta be obvious the reason why, but now that we’ve all lost the girl, I think we should band together before we’re truly buggered.”
“That was quite beautiful,” Wesley said smiling slightly. Spike rolled his eyes, not with his usual abandon, but there was amusement there. Oz nodded in acknowledgement of Spike’s offer.
“Let’s try to get on with it,” he said. Spike moved to the table to join the other two and they began to research. Again.
***
Giles gazed at his watch before sitting up. He couldn’t stand it any longer. Regardless of what Buffy had thought, things were now escalated to the point that he knew they needed back up. Mentally calculating the time difference, Giles dialed Faith’s home in Cleveland.
The phone rang forever before she picked up.
“Hello?” Her voice was rushed.
“Faith, it’s Giles,” he said. “How are you doing?”
“Kinda busy here,” she said. “What do you need?”
“Well, what are you dealing with?” he asked in concern and annoyance.
“All our vamps and demons have gone psycho,” she said. “They’re not acting like normal, but really unified. It’s majorly weird, but we’re working overtime to put out the fires they start. They keep trying to open the Hellmouth here and we all know that would be on the not so good side of things. Plus, I’m pretty sure the First is nearby. Been seeing the Mayor again. Been meaning to call ya about that.”
“Bollocks,” Giles said. He could almost see Faith’s grin.
“What’s got you?” she asked with mirth in her voice despite the obvious strain there as well.
“We’re dealing with a major apocalypse over here. In fact, the very one that I believe is orchestrating yours. I had hoped for some help, but I guess that won’t be possible.”
“Sorry,” she told him. “You do your part, we’ll do ours. And since you told me something could be controlling the First, is there anything we should be watching out for?”
“Anything connected to an Old One named Illyria. And Faith,” his voice started to quiver. “I hate to tell you this, but I’m afraid Buffy is dead. Illyria, she killed her.”
The line was quiet for a moment.
“I felt it when she went,” Faith said finally. “But I didn’t want to call because I didn’t want to be right.”
“I’m afraid you were,” Giles said sadly. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too, G,” she said. “Me too.”
“You should also keep a look out for Willow,” Giles said. “I’m afraid she’s no longer rooting for our side. Buffy’s death seems to have escalated a jump back into dangerous magic usage and Illyria has taken that to her advantage. She’s dangerous.”
“That sucks,” Faith said. “But okay, dangerous Will, check.”
“Please keep me posted on your situation there,” he asked. “We’ve no resources here, but hopefully, I can get some from somewhere.”
“Sure.” Giles heard shouting in the background.
“Gotta run,” Faith yelled into the phone. “Big demons coming.”
“Good luck, Faith,” Giles said softly. She hung up the phone.
“She is the Slayer now,” Giles said even more quietly.
Every place on the planet Giles called had the same situation as Faith. Every Slayer, and there were thousands of them, was fighting day and night to put out the evil that had suddenly been awakened. Demons and vampires were working together to destroy entire cities. Pretense was no longer an issue for them now that they were a part of Illyria’s plan. The lone army of Slayers Willow had created was keeping them back and the inexperience of that army was beginning to tell.
Only in Rome, the center of Illyria’s infestation, was it quiet. Here she just killed one at a time, the better to drive the knife home. Giles wondered what her ultimate strategy was and how they could ever defeat her when the entire world would fight for her. But whatever it was she was planning, it was evident that the trap was being tightened.